AN app designed to help three million ex-servicemen and women is being developed by a former Royal Navy lieutenant commander from North Yorkshire.
Dr Matt Kiernan said the app aims to make information about health and social care services available to veterans in an easy to understand form.
It is being backed by Richmond MP Rishi Sunak who is seeking a meeting with Defence Minister Mark Lancaster to gain Government support for the project.
Dr Kiernan, of Hudswell, near Richmond, retired from the Royal Navy early on health grounds and is now a senior lecturer at the Northern Hub for Military Veterans and Families’ Research at Northumbria University in Newcastle.
Called the National Veteran Information Services Network – N-VISionN for short – the app would be free to ex-servicemen and women.
Dr Kiernan said: “The idea behind the app is to bring all the services available together in one place, to provide one simple to use point of contact. There is a great deal of help available, for example to deal with alcohol and substance misuse, but it is not always easy to access it.”
The app has been developed with the help of a company based in San Diego, California – rippleNami – which specialises in presenting information in a highly visual way using maps.
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